Tired of Waiting
by Zenatyra
Summary: He hadn't always gone by Sonic, but Saitama and the Toaster didn't need to know that. There was no reason to doubt his 'official backstory' in a place like the unwalled cities. No reason, that is, until a figure from his past, a boy with white hair and a red, winding scar found him, calling him by the name "Nezumi". The boy who had tired of waiting for his promised reunion.


I could still hear my pursuer clattering around the bends far behind me. He wasn't Saitama, but for a brisk stroll at high stakes, the little toaster wasn't bad company. As an added benefit, all you needed to do get his attention was say something insulting about his master in earshot.

So I wasn't running at top speed, or using half the tricks I had at my disposal. Couldn't let the boy get lost, now could I.

My name's Sonic, at the moment. I've gone by a few names over the years and this one isn't the best, but it'll do. Apparently bad names come with living in unwalled cities these days.

The area we ran through was mostly uninhabited, except for the egg, and the toaster's tiny apartment, and a number of monsters. I caught a glint of something bright around a corner, but as I slowed to consider doing something about it my pursuer got closer. Better not to risk it really. I ran into a building through a broken window and as I was about to exit out the back I heard a knocking at the door...

Monsters don't knock...

Heroes definitely don't knock...

The shock must have made me a bit stupid, a bit curious...

I opened the door...

Did I say I was shocked? I wasn't. Not until I saw the figure on the doorstep did I truly know what shock was. His soft white hair, red eyes, and scar twisting around him like a snake...

"Nezumi?" He said with some uncertainty "I got tired of waiting for you."

"Get in here" I said as a pulled him in to the building forcibly and slammed the door. I put both hands on his shoulders and looked into his eyes "do you trust me?"

He reached up to wipe at the makeup I wore under my eyes to bring out whatever blue existed in them. It bothered me when people called my eyes grey these days. "Are you really my Nezumi?"

I managed to grab him and jump backward just before the door and most of the wall turned into a cloud of dust. We were lucky we weren't vaporized, honestly. Heroes don't knock.

Shion tried to glare at me, but had trouble doing so because I was now behind him with a knife to his throat. "Genos! Don't shoot! I have a hostage!" I yelled into the smoke. The cyborg's body came into focus through the settling dust.

"And I'll believe that when the sky falls. When did you start caring enough to take hostages, Sonic."

"It's an innocent civilian, and you're a hero. I don't have to care, but you do."

"Why does your hostage look so profoundly disappointed in you then?"

"Does he? Well I guess it's because he's an airhead with the self preservation instinct of a lemming. I'd like to see you pick a better hostage." I said using my best voice projection and then in a whisper "seriously, Shion, play along."

Genos didn't seem to be buying it "or he's your accomplice, which would be why he looks so much like a monster, himself."

Shion raised a hand and ventured "I'm on the reconstruction committee for my city. Effectively a mayor. I'd be a good hostage really..."

Genos paused for a moment "then why are you here?" he said.

"I'm looking for the man who walked out on me a couple years ago."

"Who I'm assuming was a showoff ninja?" Genos scowled at me.

"No, he was leading lady at a theatre."

The toaster looked me up and down "if you're trying to imagine me in a dress right now. So help me..."

"I've seen you naked. What do you care."

I felt Shion stiffen in my arms. I whispered in his ear "Shion this is not the time. You don't want to know me right now."

Shion whispered back "no... I see... Blonds really are your type, aren't they, Nezumi?"

"You're going to get us both killed."

"Are you pleading with your 'hostage'?"

"Shut it, Toaster." I snapped "I'm not getting a useless kid killed over an insult to your master."

"Did you suddenly grow a conscience?"

"I'm not getting paid for this. So I'm sorry, I take back the weak insult that Saitama didn't give a damn about."

Genos' bolts nearly squeaked in anticipation of a battle "though. As a hero. I can't overlook a hostage situation."

Shion waved his hands in a somewhat forced gesture of surrender "No no don't do anything rash on my account. I'm going to be okay. Just go."

Genos sighed, "I suppose if Panic really wanted you dead you'd be dead by now. Have fun getting Stockholm syndrome with this perverted waste of space." He turned to leave and I yet again felt Shion tense.

"Shion, he can and will vaporize you. Calm down." I whispered.

Shion went limp as the little-engine-that-could stalked out of sight. I put the knife away, he turned to me, and nestled his face into the crook of my neck "This isn't the reunion I was picturing, Nezumi." He said, seeming to be on the verge of tears. I wasn't sure what I was supposed to be doing. It had been so long since that winter, and the last time intimacy hadn't reached me at knifepoint.

I smiled, and gently, carefully, wrapped my arms around his shoulders. "Shion, I'm back."

I took him out back, where monsters and heroes couldn't catch us by surprise. The garden was, unsurprisingly overgrown, but the garden wall had been mostly knocked down and the stones made reasonable seats.

I wiped the purple facepaint off with my scarf… also purple… If the boy realized the reason why I liked this shade so much… Shion purple… He seemed a bit preoccupied with finding words and wouldn't be particularly observant for a while. He finally managed to make his voice work after a few false starts. "You… You never told me why you left…"

"I needed to get stronger. I can't watch you kill again. If you're going to take power, you need a left hand, and a bodyguard."

"Oh for the love of Goddess, Nezumi, you don't need to be impressive all the time! I survived this long. I don't need a bodyguard I need you."

"I wasn't finished… That's how it started… but things are more complicated. Out here, we're both evil and guilty as sin."

"I don't know what you've been up to, but I've…"

"How did you get here, Shion?" I said, calmly, anticipating the answer. "Did you bring bodyguards capable of killing leviathans? Did you fight things along the way and get stronger?"

"No… I was just camping… nothing attacked me until I met you…"

"Because you are under the protection of a powerful monster. The other monsters see your hair and scar and know you're one of their own."

"But you…"

"I learned how to use the powers Elyurias gave me, fighting my way to the closest city. There I found something interesting. Our faces on wanted posters. The walled cities' public safety bureaus decided that we're the violent criminals for destroying Number Six; and the Heros' association in the unwalled cities call us demon level villains."

"So why didn't you come home?" Shion seemed to be getting more frustrated the more I talked.

"I've been wiping us from the system, you airhead." I laughed "Or would you rather be called a tyrant king?"

"But that's not how I…"

"doesn't matter. You overthrew the old order. You worked with something they call a monster. People died. You could have fought me, and been a 'hero' like the blondie you saw. But you chose me, the boy born into a 'monster cult'." I knew the way I was looking at him was embarrassingly soft. My smile gentler and less shameful than it had been in years. Of course it was, I'd never been this close to the boy. We'd always had the city between us. "It means everything to me that you chose me. I'm going to go home, to you, once I've wiped you from the Heroes association computers It's harder than I thought it would be though. There's someone so powerful… If I can grow stronger than him. I can take on the association."

"You're talking about him as if he's just a milestone… would he help us?"

I stared with my mouth open… "Your majesty, I know you may think I'm endlessly charming… but the rest of the world disagrees."

"I'll talk to him."

"You're crazy."

"I want you home."

"and for that you'll face down the trigger happy bucket of bolts, and his teacher?"

"He seemed reasonable."

* * *

 **A/N: as i've had some comments about the M rating I'll clarify that it's in light of what will likely happen in Chapter 2.**

 **I don't know how far this plot will go, but we'll see... It just started as a reaction to Sonic's eyes. (Been reading No.6, and the obsession with Nez' 灰色の瞳 always makes me laugh)**

 **As always, I own nothing.**


End file.
